Butts County GaArchives Biographies.....Fincher, John L. September 1 1843 - July 16 1911
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Larry Knowles knonga@bellsouth.net August 31, 2004, 8:30 pm
Author: Larry C. Knowles
FINCHERVILLE FINCHERS
The Butts County community of Fincherville, at the intersection of Island
Shoals/Fincherville, and Keys Ferry Roads, was named after John Lumpkin Fincher
who settled there during the Civil War. John L. Fincher was born September 1,
1843 in Jasper County. Evidently orphaned at a tender age, his parents(to date)
are unknown. He-and perhaps a sister(?)Margaret J. Fincher, were raised by
relatives, John J. and Mary A. Fincher. They are found in their household on
the 1850 and 1860 Jasper Co. censuses(Margaret was divorced or widowed by 1860,
as her son Pleasant W. Warren was also listed; in 1856 she had married Edwin
Warren.). On February 27, 1862 in Jasper Co., John L. Fincher married Arra A.
("Annie")Dearing, daughter of Thomas J. and Matilda(Kitchens)Dearing. In May
that year, John and perhaps-a cousin(?)Simeon C. Fincher(with whom he had grown
up)joined Anderson's Guards in Newton County. Nothing is known of their early
Army service. Did John's wife Arra move to Butts County with her parents, while
John was away in the war? Had his enlistment ended, when she gave birth to a
son, March 13, 1864? The child died the same day. Was John there when Arra died
a week later? Arra and her son are buried in the family cemetery on
Fincherville Road, 1/4 mile south of the Keys Ferry junction. In Butts County
on May 15, 1864, John L. Fincher married Arra's sister, Sarah Adaline Dearing.
Earlier that year, their father, Thomas J. Dearing, had been killed in the War.
"Cousin Sim" Fincher was captured at Sharpsburg, Maryland September 14, 1862-
and was "exchanged" in October at Aiken's Landing Virginia. He surrendered at
Appomattox on April 9 1865. John L. Fincher was captured at Richmond Virginia,
April 3, 1865. After an oath of allegiance, he was released at Camp Lookout,
Maryland on June 27, 1865. He came home to Butts Co. to rebuild his life and
family. During reconstruction, the family grew and became relatively
prosperous. Between July 1866 and February 1873, the couple had four children:
Ella Frances, Edward Alfred(Sept.-1869), Atticus Clark(Jan.-1871), and John
Thomas. By the early 1880s, John L. Fincher had ventured into several business
opportunities. Georgia gazetteers for the Worthville P.O. show him in
partnership with John H. Pope in a cotton gin. He was probably involved in a
general store, Welch & Fincher (1883-1887). Also noted, are interests in a
grist mill and sawmill(1881-1896). It is likely that some of these businesses
were near his home at Fincherville. Early this century, the family ran a cotton
gin on the N.W. corner of the Fincherville crossroads. On the N.E. corner there
was an old store building which housed the short-lived Fincherville Post
Office. John L. Fincher was its Postmaster(1895-1898).
By 1900, John L. and Sarah Fincher had moved to Clinch County with son, E.
Alfred Fincher. But, before 1910, both families had returned to Butts Co. John
L. Fincher was a very religious man, and is prominently noted in the early
minutes of Sardis Baptist Church. However, during a schism, he left the home
church, and started a new one, across from the family cemetery on the Westside
of Fincherville Rd. On July 16, 1911, John L. Fincher died. Perhaps, without
his leadership, the young church failed. Its building-near a small cotton
house, stood vacant for many years. Sarah Fincher died November 27, 1923. John
L. Fincher, wives-Sarah & Arra(and her infant son)-and their mother, Matilda
Dearing(#1) are buried in the family cemetery. Fincher siblings; Ella F. Wilson
(wife of Wm. A. Wilson), Alfred E. Fincher, and John T.("Scrub")Fincher are
buried in Sardis Baptist Church Cemetery. Their brother; Atticus Clark Fincher,
who had a deaf-mute child, had moved to Floyd County before 1920. He is buried
in Cave Springs Cemetery. In the Floyd Co. history book, A.C. Fincher-in an
undated photo-is noted as the mayor of Cave Springs.
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Note:
#1) Matilda married Thomas J. Dearing in Jasper Co. on December 28, 1843. She
was the daughter of Charles Kitchens of Jasper County, who died there in
January 1864(his will was contested, and proven in Jasper County Superior Court-
Oct. Term 1867). The decision was affirmed by the Georgia Supreme Court-June
Term, 1869.
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